Washington State Food Safety Surveillance Project

1 WASHINGTON STATE FOOD SAFETY SURVEILLANCE PROJECT
2 Abstract
3 The Washington State Department of Health Public Health Laboratories (WAPHL) is proposing
4 multiple projects through this cooperative agreement that will benefit from the strong
5 collaboration between the Microbiology and the Environmental Laboratory Sciences
6 Departments. Projects proposed in this application span all disciplines for which funding is
7 available. The proposed projects will either maintain or expand WAPHL capabilities in the areas
8 of Food Microbiology, Chemical Food Defense, Advanced Molecular Detection, Shellfish
9 Biotoxins, Shellfish Biomonitoring and Food Radiochemistry.
10 The projects being proposed by all of the laboratories within the WAPHL will be accomplished
11 through the inner workings of having a well-established organizational structure, management
12 style, quality assurance program, subject matter experts, a solid laboratory infrastructure,
13 established sample collection relationships, and long lived collaborations.
14 WAPHL have been managing grants successfully for over 20 years. Among these, multiple
15 United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Center for Disease Control and
16 Statistics (CDC) grants have continuously been funded. Currently the WAPHL proposal includes
17 projects that will be managed by the microbiology and the environmental laboratory sciences
18 departments. The laboratory has sufficient, equipment, and personnel to support all of the
19 projects proposed in this application. The laboratory also boasts ISO accreditation for some of
20 its radiation chemistry activities, has plans for expanding ISO accreditation and has a quality
21 management plan for sections not covered under ISO accreditation. The environmental
22 sciences and microbiology sections also have strong collaborations with several environmental
23 programs within Washington State Department of Health.
24 The collaboration within the WAPHL is a holistic approach by our Environmental Laboratory
25 Science and Microbiology departments here at WAPHL to work together in helping to create a
26 safer food supply for not only Washington State residents but also for visitors and other
27 consumers of Washington’s extensive food supply.